Whitehorse Daily Star

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Jaedyn Amann

Petition urges action on perilous soccer goals

An online petition calling for the creation of a law to ban or strictly regulate collapsible soccer goals had collected 3,487 signatures as of Monday morning.

By Ainslie Cruickshank on August 1, 2012

An online petition calling for the creation of a law to ban or strictly regulate collapsible soccer goals had collected 3,487 signatures as of Monday morning.

The petition was started in memory of Jaedyn Amann, five, who was killed July 4 in Watson Lake after a collapsible soccer goal on the high school field buckled, striking her in the back of the head.

"Those who love her wish for Jaedyn's passing to not be in vain; by abolishing the likelihood that another family will endure this pain, we can give meaning to this tragedy,” the petition site says.

A Facebook Page was also created in support of creating Jaedyn's Law. It had 8,722 members as of earlier this week.

Jaedyn had been playing at the field with three other children between the ages of three and five when one of the children, who weighed roughly 30 lbs., leaned on the goal, which buckled.

Since her death, her parents, Paul Amann and Tara Hicks, discovered a tally of deaths and injuries by these collapsible goals, dating back to 1979. Jaedyn appeared as number 94 days after she was killed.

According to the list, which can be found at anchoredforsafety.org, Jaedyn's death was the second of 2012 in North America.

A nine-year-old boy was killed last January when a collapsible net struck him in the back of the head.

"The numbers are too high,” Amann told the Star Monday.

"After Jaedyn died, we didn't even know about the tally of how many are dead or injured. Once we found out about it it made things, we felt even worse, because it's an ongoing problem that hasn't been resolved or dealt with. It's funny our government didn't step in 20 years ago.”

The family lives in Ladysmith, B.C. for part of the year. An MLA from the B.C. interior has reached out to Amann and his wife and expressed interest in working with them to create Jaedyn's Law.

Amann preferred not to provide his name to the Star without prior permission.

"I can't believe we haven't had one Yukon government official phone us to maybe work on a law in the Yukon,” he said.

Following Jaedyn's death, all collapsible soccer goals were immediately removed from fields in the Yukon. Department of Education officials have previously said there were 70 in the territory.

Officials have also said they are co-operating fully with the Yukon coroner's and RCMP investigations but will not release any information until those are complete.

Michele Royle, the department's communication co-ordinator, said the department is continuing to look into the incident to see what it can do to ensure the safety of its equipment, whether school is in session or not.

She noted the department's immediate response of removing all collapsible goals after Jaedyn's death and said all of those goals will be inspected thoroughly to make sure they're safe before being returned to the fields.

Amann said others have also come forward, interested in helping to draft a law and they are in the process of building an advocacy team.

So far, a woman from Ladysmith and a lawyer from Vancouver have offered their time and energy to work on the law.

Amann said the B.C. community has been incredibly supportive and is still fund-raising for the family.

A garage sale was held recently at a local church and a "beer, burger and salad” auction night took place Tuesday evening.

"It's amazing what the people down here are doing for us,” said Amann. "It's amazing support.”

The Jaedyn's Law petition can be found at jaedynslaw.com.

By Ainslie Cruickshank

Star Reporter

Comments (5)

Up 0 Down 0

Michael Hamm on Aug 3, 2012 at 3:50 am

"She noted the department's immediate response of removing all collapsible goals after Jaedyn's death and said all of those goals will be inspected thoroughly to make sure they're safe before being returned to the fields."

Why in God's name would we put these goals back out on the fields AT ALL?! They've been a problem for 20 years, they don't need to be inspected, they need to be REPLACED. Fix those nets to the ground in concrete and let's be done with all these children meeting their end in a playground! These are places we consider safe for our children to play, reasonably so. Let's see the government take our families and their safety seriously, if you put those nets back on the fields you may as well be saying you don't care about my kids or little Jaedyn. It's simple YTG: get rid of the nets, spend a bit of money on a new idea and gain the overwhelming support of your citizens. Ball is on your foot, which net will you put up to score?

Up 0 Down 0

Jennifer Sanbrooks on Aug 2, 2012 at 1:17 pm

What a beautiful sweet little girl, taken way to soon! Pass the law for the saftey of everyones little ones! Keep our kids safe!

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Spencer Drew Ellingson on Aug 2, 2012 at 3:50 am

Sorry to hear about your loss. Hopefully change comes of the tragic loss

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Diana JAMES on Aug 2, 2012 at 1:01 am

PLEASE PLEASE pass this law, for the sake & safety of the children...

Up 0 Down 0

dawn morrison on Aug 1, 2012 at 11:24 pm

you can pass a law to have your cat on a leash! So passing Jaedyn's Law is a no brainer!!!!

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